Chapter 2(Lucas)

Must Be Dreaming

"Tutor Girl meet your new boyfriend…Broody."

What? I looked over at Haley, hoping for some sort of answer but she looked just as confused as me.

Haley put her hands on her hips, "Really, Brooke? That's your master plan? It's the most ridiculous thing ever!"

"Haley! It so isn't! It's brilliant."

"Yeah, right. This would never, ever work."

"You just don't have the imagination I have."

"Are you sure? Because right now I can imagine a lot. Like tossing you out of here on your ass. Or maybe hitting you with a car. Or maybe…"

"Haley." She looked over at me because I'd interrupted her 'imagining'. "What the heck is going on? Someone want to fill me in?"

Brooke turned around to face me and stuck her tongue out at Haley in the same motion, "Well, Luke. You would do anything for Haley, right? To make her happy?"

I furrowed my brows but it was true. I would do anything for my Hales, "Of course…but what am I going to have to do?"

"Well…who does Nathan hate more than anyone?"

I shrugged, "Dan?"

She clucked her tongue, "My God! This is like spoon feeding babies! No, he hates you, completely and totally."

I chuckled, "Yeah he hates me…so what? I'm definitely not the guy's biggest fan."

Brooke smiled, "I have a way you can get under his skin and be like…a boil…or whatever. And you can totally help Haley at the same time. It's like catching two birds with one…net."

She turned and looked at Haley who smiled and said, "Well at least that metaphor works better than the last one."

I snapped my fingers, getting impatient. If something was going on…they needed to hurry up and tell me. "Brooke…please get to the point."

"Fine. Don't get huffy. I think you both have an anger management problem. In fact now that I think about it, you two are usually just brooding together. Guys, you seriously need to get out and just go to the club or something…get crazy…"

Haley and I both let out a huge sigh at the same time. Brooke glared at both of us. She went off on random tangents all the time.

She held up a finger, "Don't interrupt…rude. Anways…like I was saying. You guys should pretend to be dating around Nate and Peyton. Then, Lucas, Peyton will see she's losing you and be ready for that deep commitmenty thing you were talking about. And Haley, Nate will see you with Lucas, his arch enemy, and when you're ready to reel him back in, he'll come back to you, grateful and groveling."

That was Brooke's big plan? That we pretend to date to make Nate and Peyton jealous? My first gut instinct was that it would never work…but would it? People used to think that Haley and I dated anyways. We spent almost everyday together too. How much harder would it be to convince them we were dating? I usually didn't like playing dating games but I'd tried being honest and straightforward with Peyton and she'd run. Maybe if she saw competition, she'd come running to me and not from me. Plus, it would help Haley get what she wanted, even though I hated the thought of her with Nathan. I hated the thought of Haley with anyone actually but maybe if I made Nathan jealous enough he'd finally stop being an ass and realize that he had to treat her right. Or if I treated her like a proper girlfriend, she'd realize that she could move on and find someone better than Nate. This could actually work.

"I'm in." Haley and Brooke both looked up at me sharply.

Haley looked at me, "B…but Luke…"

I smiled, "I'm in Hales. You're my best friend. If Nate is who you want, then I'm gonna help you get that. I know you better than anyone, it wouldn't be that weird. We're already really close anyways."

She looked completely opposed to the idea but I could see temptation creeping into her eyes. She wanted to do this but she didn't think she should. I walked over to her and put my arm around her shoulders.

"Hales…We don't have to agree on this now. How about we try it tomorrow at school? Nothing dramatic. Hold hands in the hallway, sit together at lunch, hug, and maybe if Nathan's watching…I'll kiss your cheek. We'll see how it works or if it's weird. If there's a problem, then we'll just stop, k?"

Like I said, I knew Haley. She hated just jumping into things but if she could dip her toes slowly in the water then she'd feel more confident about going under. I saw the battle within her eyes weaken and dim.

She held up a finger in my face, "Ok…fine. Just one day. If it sucks, we'll stop."

I smiled. Brooke clapped her hands and jumped up and down, "So much fun!" I rolled my eyes and squeezed Haley tight. She groaned but hugged me back.